


Knight In Biotic Armor

by themoonowl



Series: A Real Hero [20]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Action, Asking out on a Date, Battle Couple, But also, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Romance, Kaidan Alenko Turns His Biotics To Eleven, M/M, Male Friendship, Mass Effect 3, Samed Being A Badass Engineer, Samed Is A Boy Scout, like really soon, some sexual tension, tfw ur bff helps ur crush with his migraine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 14:13:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20676719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themoonowl/pseuds/themoonowl
Summary: While en-route to a Cerberus facility on Gellix, Kaidan questions a lot of things about Samed.Filling in some moments in the whole Arrae: Ex-Cerberus Scientists mission + a rewrite/recycle of the scene with Kaidan that happens afterwards.And some friendships, both old and new. And action scenes.





	Knight In Biotic Armor

“So we’re rescuing Cerberus scientists. From Cerberus themselves.” Kaidan double-checked the pouches of heatsinks and medi-gel on his armor as the shuttle neared the facility on Gellix. Just in case.

“Ex-Cerberus. And something bothering you, Kaidan?”

“It’s just,” he started, gaze fixed into Shepard’s inquisitive dark eyes. “Cerberus against their own? Just seems so unlikely.”

“They attacked humans on Benning, Grissom Academy and then the Council. It’s very likely.”

“I know, but wasn’t the Illusive Man a humans-first advocate or something? Why would he do this to, well, his own?”

“I don’t know, it’s Cerberus!” Shepard raised his voice. Then sighed. “They’re terrorists. At this point, anything is possible.”

“Sorry if I touched a nerve, Commander. I didn’t mean to—”

“No. It’s fine. If you want, we can discuss this whole thing after the mission.”

“Yeah. I’d like that."

“Sir,” Cortez said from the cockpit, “I’m picking up chatter from a Cerberus squad engaging the supply depot.”

“Engaging the scientists?” Shepard walked over and leaned on Cortez’ seat.

“And if I’m reading it right, sounds like more troops are on the way.”

“Okay. Set us down and get out of here. I need those scientists alive.” Shepard returned to the cargo hold with worried eyes directed straight at Kaidan.

It was a look that was charged with something, alright. Something that made his chest heavy. _ I’ll never doubt you again, Commander _ —those were Kaidan's words after the Cerberus coup a week ago. Words that he absolutely meant, no doubt about it. But this. This Whole Mission was charged with that _ something _. Rescuing Cerberus scientists? It just seemed so odd to bring him here.

“Landing zone in sight,” Cortez said. “Get ready, it’s a bit frosty out there.”

The shuttle door opened and cold wind blasted Kaidan’s face, the whiteness of snow nearly blinding after the dimness of the Kodiak.

Shepard jumped out first with Garrus following suit; the last one being Kaidan behind both men. With no time to waste, the Commander ran forward, gun behind omni-tool-readied left hand and cooked the two Cerberus assault troopers in front of him with incendiary plasma before taking cover.

“Alenko, two Guardians on my twelve,” Shepard said through the comm. “Deployed Jab, but could use some of your biotics.”

“Understood Commander. Garrus—”

“Way ahead of you. Suppressing fire!”

Kaidan ran under Garrus’ bullets and bunkered right next to Shepard. Gloved hand glowing blue in preparation for a _ reave _ , Kaidan focused his mind pass the guys’ armor; imagining the skin, muscle, bone, and finally— _ nerves _. He clenched a fist, and the men cried in pain; right before their large shields fell on the ground with a clunk. He turned to a grinning Shepard and an “Excellent job, Major,” followed by “Garrus, cover me, I’m going further in!”

“Copy that, Commander,” Garrus fired a concussive shot right at the shield pylons, disabling them and grabbing the Cerberus guys' attention.

Kaidan ran a pace or two behind Shepard and took cover. He watched as the Commander faced two squads on both of his sides, gun pointed at the right, omni-tool on the left. Geez, where did the timid engineer from three years back go? The one that fried enemy shields strictly behind cover and ran as soon as anything got remotely close?

“Major, my nine and three,” he sounded over the comm. “Centurions. The nine’s all yours.”

“Copy that.” Omni-tool ready, Kaidan cooked the shields on the leftmost centurion and watched as Shepard charged the other group and—fist clenched and glowing orange—actually _ punched _ a Centurion, making him shake from the surge of electricity Shepard produced in his omni-tool-enveloped hand. Then finished him off with a kick to the groin and a bullet in each of the assault-trooper’s heads.

Yeah. Definitely bolder, alright. And kinda—nice to look at, really.

“Kaidan, ten o’clock!” Garrus’s razor-edge voice blared from the comm, followed by two shots; leaving the two guys that _ he _ was supposed to take out, dead. “You’ve gotten a bit rusty, Major. You sure you don’t need a bit more rest on the Citadel?”

“Laugh it up, Garrus.”

“Come on, there are reinforcements to my eight. I take the left, you take the right.”

“On it.”

* * *

“Jacob!” Samed pulled the wounded man sitting in the med bay into a tight hug, making him groan and chuckle at the same time. “Can’t believe I’m saving your ass again!”

“This is crazy, Shepard. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again after you turned yourself in.”

“So, how’ve you been, Jacob? I thought you quit Cerberus.”

“I did. Went back to Earth after you dropped me off and just sat by the Medditeranean for a while. Gave me time to think.”

Samed folded his arms with a smirk on his face. “And what did all that fresh air and meditation teach you?”

“That what I choose to fight for better mean something to me—that it comes from the heart.”

“Like Dr. Brynn Cole?” Samed raised a wry eyebrow at Jacob, who shifted his eyes and scratched the back of his neck.

“Heh, yeah.”

“Jacob Taylor. Are you settling down?”

“Yeah, maybe. It’s just—if these are our final days, I want to spend them protecting these people. Building a life—Whatever’s left of it.”

“Well I'm proud of you, Jacob. You got a good thing here. It suits you."

"Yeah." Jacob shifted his eyes downwards. "But I wanna make sure it stays a good thing."

"Don't worry, we'll get these people out."

Samed glanced at the Major, his arms crossed and leaning against a wall not far from where he and Jacob talked.

"Hey, so what’s the deal with Cerberus? Got any intel I should know about?”

“The Illusive Man became obsessed with indoctrination, I know that. Figures. Ever since I heard that recording of him ordering you to save that Collector base.” Jacob shuddered.

“Yeah. Glad you got out of there on time.”

“Glad you talked me out of it, Shepard.”

“Hey, you were always suspicious of Cerberus. All you needed was a little push.” Samed smiled at the man and took another glance at the Major, amber eyes meeting his and quickly looking away. “Alright. Gotta disable those AA guns I guess.”

“Right, I’ll talk you through it.”

“Jacob, please. I’ve hacked through Cerberus tech before, it should be easy enough.”

“Yeah yeah, I know. But I’ll keep in radio contact just in case.”

Samed and Jacob clasped hands and he motioned for Kaidan and Garrus to follow.

The group entered a red-lit hall with various pipes and wires lined along its walls and stairs on its far end—likely leading to the roof. There were seldom any of the scientists here—likely everyone was busy packing.

“Hey, so, this Jacob guy,” Kaidan started, “Another ex-Cerberus?”

“Jacob helped me stop the Collectors. Good man. Immediately came clean that he was working for Cerberus—and that he wasn’t very fond of them either.”

“So, what’s he doing here now?”

“After we destroyed the Collector base, me and another Cerberus operative talked him into quitting. And now he's here to help these people out of the Illusive Man's clutches.”

“Yeah." His gravelly voice hid just a hint of hesitation behind it. "He's doing good work.”

“Thoughts, Major?” Samed turned and met worried eyes.

“Never mind. You said we'll discuss this after the mission, remember? What’s important now is that we help these people.”

“Agreed.”

* * *

“Garrus.” Shepard turned away from the AA gun’s console. “You do the repairs.”

“On it, Shepard.”

“Kaidan.” Focused brown eyes met his through the holo of his visor. “You ready? Just you and me.”

Kaidan's implant twitched slightly. That was maybe the first thing Shepard said today that wasn't loaded with that _ something _ that hovered in the air between them. Yeah. _ Just you and me _. It sounded—well, fucking great, really. Rifle in raised arm, Kaidan reloaded with one hand as the adrenaline started to pulse through his veins. "Bring it on!"

Two shuttles hovered on their twelve and two, dropping the usual Cerberus troops; but also something else, smaller and faster, their movements too quick to register. Maybe Phantoms? If that was the case, the fight was about to get interesting, alright.

Running in front of him, Shepard threw a grenade that bounced off the hull of one of the shuttles and started to hover into a turret. It was a good idea—some cover fire, now that Garrus had his hands full.

"Kaidan, take the three, I'll take the twelve."

"Roger that. Be careful."

Shepard gave a thumbs up and rushed ahead, omni-tool and gun ready.

Kaidan took cover behind a crate and fried the shields of a Centurion before taking him out with a few rifle shots.

Something wasn't right. A low hum rang in his ears as his teeth ever so slightly vibrated, which meant— 

He sprung up a barrier just as the Phantom's blade hit it, making a ripple in the bluish halo. He _ reaved _ away her barrier and bolted in Shepard’s direction.

"Phantoms?" Shepard asked through the comm.

"Phantoms. Don't let them get too close, Commander!"

"Noted."

Shepard arrived at his position and engaged the now barrier-less Phantom with an incendiary round. The low hum returned however, just as another Phantom decloaked right behind Shepard. _ Crap _.

Mustering all the strength he had, Kaidan _ reaved _ both women, the body of the one from before left limp and lifeless while the other writhed and screamed. He redirected his biotics to lift the remaining Phantom and hurled her from the roof into the great whiteness of the snow surrounding the facility.

Just as his biotics went offline, Kaidan collapsed and a sharp pain shot through his temples—like being kicked by a horse, right in the head.

"Kaidan!" the Commander yelled out but he didn't dare to open his eyes. It felt like everything around him spun and he sat holding his knees for dear life.

The smell of burned wires surrounded him and two hands gripped his shoulders. "Major. Kaidan, are you alright? Is this an L2 flare up?"

Kaidan nodded. "I'll be fine, I just need to—"

"Jacob, you got any medics there?"

A radio-distorted voice came through the comm, "Why, someone injured?"

"Kaidan here's an L2, pushed himself a bit too hard."

"I think I might have something to help. Bring him down."

"Shepard, I'm—" The eggs he ate that morning started to come back up and he swallowed. "I'm fine. I just need to—"

"You're not." Fabric touched both sides of his face, gloved fingers trailing under his eyes. "You're really pale, Kaidan. And you got some nasty-looking dark circles under your eyes."

"Yeah, that's a—ugh. Biotic migraine alright."

"Can you walk? Open your eyes?"

Kaidan forced his eyes open to Samed's olive face, worried chocolate-brown eyes staring into his as he held his head up with both hands—gently and carefully. And Kaidan couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"Hey." Samed’s full lips formed a warm smile and his dark eyes lit up. "How's your vision?"

"Pretty… great actually."

"Take it easy with the biotics, Major. You didn't need to push yourself that hard, I had them."

"They're dangerous Shepard, and—ow!" Kaidan winced as pain shot again through the right side of his forehead.

"Easy, Kaidan. Come on, Jacob said he can fix you up."

* * *

"So, L2 implants, huh?" The clunking of bottles accompanied Jacob’s voice as he searched through the shelves for a fix for Kaidan’s migraine. "Why not upgrade? I'm sure medicine's gotten better now. Might not even pose that great of a risk to have that operation anymore."

"It's fine. I can handle it."

"You sure? You don't look so hot."

"Say, what’s this thing you're looking for anyway?"

"Cerberus made a prototype drug a while ago, sort of like a painkiller that keeps the biotics offline for a while."

"Is it even tested? What are the side effects?"

"Really? You have an L2 and you're worried about side effects?"

“Yeah.” Kaidan chuckled softly. “I guess you’re right. Still, I hope it’s not Reaper tech or anything.”

“Nah, none of that stuff, promise. This was made ages ago, before the Illusive Man got all Reaper-crazy. I’ve used it myself once and all it did was just that—held my biotics down for a bit." Footsteps echoed behind Kaidan and this well-built man came into view, his eyes focused on a small pill bottle. "It’s supposed to be plant-based—or so Brynn tells me. Here.” Jacob opened the packaging and placed an orange-white capsule onto his open palm. "Gonna get you some water, too."

Kaidan brought the thing closer to his face. Didn't cause his teeth to vibrate or anything. So it didn't have eezo at least. Well, even if this killed him, he'd die knowing he saved Shepard from Cerberus. And then died from shady Cerberus-manufactured pills. Ow, the irony. It hurt almost as much as his head.

"Here." Jacob returned with a glass of water.

Kaidan swallowed the pill and soon downed the entire glass of cool, refreshing water. “Oh wow. That hit the spot.”

"Well, that could take a bit to kick in, so guess I’ll go check up on—"

"Wait!" A small spark of pain pulsed above his eye and he could almost hear Shepard's words in his head. _ Take it easy, Kaidan _. Well this wasn't the time to take it easy. "I wanna ask you something, Jacob."

"Alright, shoot."

Kaidan took a deep breath. "What really happened on your mission, the one against the Collectors?"

"Didn't Shepard tell you that?"

"I wanna hear it from you."

"Alright.” he crossed his arms. “What do you wanna know?"

Kaidan sighed. "I don't know." What would he even ask that he didn't already know? "Did Shepard just go along with the Illusive Man's plans or?" he blurted. No, he knew the answer to that, even back on Horizon. So why did he even say that?

"Haha, no. He was pissed that he was even working for Cerberus. Constantly tried to talk me out of it. Finally it worked—I quit."

Kaidan hid a faint smile. Yeah. That sounded like Shepard alright.

"And what about you,” Kaidan asked. “What did you do before you joined? Were you Alliance?"

"Yeah, I used to run as a Corsair. I was stationed on Eden Prime and saw first-hand how higher ups weren’t even willing to lift a finger against the real threat. So I left. Joined Cerberus not long after."

"You should’ve come with us, we—”

“Yeah, I know the story. You actually did something about it. Broke protocol, took back the ship, headed to Ilos. All that good stuff.”

"So why not join us or—literally anyone other than Cerberus?"

"Listen, my past is my own, will it change anything if I tell you my whole history? Besides, you're asking me all these things because you couldn't ask Shepard himself. Am I right?"

“Maybe.” Kaidan sighed. “I guess I’m just looking for something more. Some insight into how Cerberus works or—anything. I mean, I hear all the nasty things you’ve—they’ve—done and next thing I know Shepard’s there and now you and all these other people are trying to get out.”

“Yeah, but Shepard didn’t have much of a choice. He was—well, I’d rather not describe the state we found him in." A tightness gripped Kaidan's stomach at the mental image and he shook his head. A rather uncomfortable thought sprung up—these people saved him, rebuilt him, brought him back. Shepard wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them.

"You're right though," Jacob continued. "Cerberus has a messy past alright. I tried to put it away and focus on all the good they did, the opportunities.”

“But it didn’t work out in the end.”

“Correct.”

“Hey Kaidan." Shepard entered the med bay and placed a warm hand on his shoulder. “You feeling better? Hey. You’re not so pale anymore.” His worried chocolate-brown eyes met his and his smile brought warm shivers down his back. He had Cerberus to thank—yes, actually thank—that this man stood in front of him now, making him feel… human. Alive.

"Yeah, I feel a bit better.” He gave a smile back. “I can feel the pill doing its thing."

"Good to hear, Major. So." He turned to Jacob. "You two playing nice?"

"Jacob was just telling me some stuff about Cerberus. Put a lot of stuff into perspective, actually.”

“Yeah and I gave Kaidan that pill I told you about. Anti-Minagen X3.”

“Wait. Anti-Minagen X3? That’s given to red-sand addicts, I just have a migraine!”

“Hey, if it works.” Jacob rolled his shoulders. “The effects won't last long though. Should keep you mobile for about two hours, I don’t know if the headache will clear up after that.”

“With my luck, hardly.”

“If that’s the case.” Shepard straightened. “We better hurry with that evacuation. Kaidan, can you handle the final push?”

“You can count on me, Shepard. I got your back. Always.”

“Glad to hear. And—same here, Major.” Shepard gave one last smile before heading out.

Yeah. Alive.

* * *

After sending Jacob and the others safely on their way, Samed took to Starboard Observation, where the Major said he’d be—probably waiting out his migraine. He did seem to spend a lot of time in there, didn’t he? It suited him, really. Just like in the drawing Samed still foolishly kept tucked away. He opened the doors to the wide starry window and heard a voice coming from his left.

"Over here, Shepard."

In the corner of the sofa lay the Major, with some kind of towel covering his eyes. Not quite the scene from the drawing, but endearing nonetheless.

"Hey. How're you feeling, Kaidan?"

"Well, Jacob's meds wore off like he said. Which means the headache's back. But I checked with Dr. Chakwas, she says I'm good. Just sort of sprained a muscle in my brain or something. But I'll be fine. Just need to rest."

"If you want, I can come back later."

"Nah. I like having you around, Shepard. And I think you said we'd talk after the mission."

"That I did." Samed took a seat in the center of the sofa, right next to Kaidan’s feet. "So. What's on your mind? You didn't seem too thrilled that we're rescuing ex-Cerberus people."

"Yeah, at first maybe. But seeing them there, talking with some of them. Really puts things in perspective, you know? I mean, before, the only person I knew that came out of there was you. And I always knew you'd do the right thing, no doubt about it. But talking to Jacob." He took a long sigh and his voice turned to his serious, gravelly tone. "I'm starting to get it, Shepard. Not sure if I agree, but I get it. These are good people. Just like—like you're good people. And it's good we reached out. I'm— huh. I guess I'm proud."

"Proud? Of what?"

"I don't know. Just that feeling of a job well done, I guess. And after the coup, after we stared at each other by the end of our guns—I needed this. So thanks for bringing me along for this one, Shepard."

"Anytime.” Warmth tugged at Samed's stomach. Bringing Kaidan there was definitely a risk and seeing him happy—more or less, with that migraine—felt amazing. “It was nice seeing you in action again, Major."

"Likewise, Shepard. Gotta say, I'm impressed. Never thought I'd see you punch someone. With an omni-tool too!"

"Heh, well. Got bored of just sending Jab to do my dirty work. Besides, I don't know what it is about fighting Cerberus goons, but it's really fun taking them out head on."

"Except for Phantoms. Those can mess you up, big time."

"Hey, I could've taken those two you know. Woulda spared you the headache."

"Nah, I was more than happy playing the knight in shining armor. Only with guns instead of swords. And some tech magic."

"Let's be clear Alenko, tech magic is what I do. Yours is just plain old magic."

Kaidan chortled and then pulled out his most exaggerated fantasy vid voice. "_For this next biotic throw._" Samed couldn’t contain the laughter building inside. "_I'll need an eye of asari and three krogan balls_—ow." He winced and placed a hand on the towel on his forehead.

"Alright, as fun as this is, you need your rest, Alenko. I'll leave you be."

"Okay, I guess that's for the best. Oh and Shepard? Wanna get a drink next time we’re on the Citadel? You know, like we did after Sovereign?"

It was convenient that Kaidan still had that towel over his eyes. Because Samed could not hide the wide grin that was on his face after that question.

"That sounds great Kaidan. I'd love that."

"Great! I found a place that uh, still has steak."


End file.
